It's been over a year since we began our quest for a new, larger house. With our family of nine in a three bedroom house it was rather cozy. Actually it was quite crowded and we felt like mice in a maze. We had a crib and two pack-n-plays in our bedroom. It was so crazy in there I had to climb up on top of a night table and then jump down into a square foot of floor space in order to get into my closet. The front hall closet was approximately 18" wide. We were forever tripping over coats and boots and fleeces that always fell off of their hooks on the wall because there were about four times as many coats as hooks. The kitchen table was also the main learning surface and so meals were often taken with family members peering at each other across the table through mountains of books - the classic homeschool kitchen table. We could never really tidy it all up and put things away because there was no place to put it all.
And so we set out with these grand ideas of buying another house. We didn’t think it would take very long. After all, we found and purchased our current home during the span of a three day house-hunting trip. We started looking at listings online. Everything looked so lovely compared to our little house - just pick one and buy...
But it all turned out to be so complicated. So many of the larger homes are now built on teeny weeny lots. Instead of being claustrophobic inside our house we could get claustrophobia driving through the developments. So many of the newer homes don’t seem to be built for anyone to actually live in. Listings boast ridiculous things like “Master bath to die for!” And then you find an 11x11 bathroom, which happens to be the same size as the supposed living room. As the realtor commented, you’re expected to stick your two fancy wing chairs in there and never set foot in it again. We spent many Saturday mornings wasting away the hours looking at houses that wouldn’t work for us. Every house had a glitch. Or a ditch. After looking at several houses proximate to drainage ditches it became the standing joke with our realtor. Michael took to using Google Earth to rule out houses near holding ponds. There was one house we actually went back to look at a second time, with hopes of buying. But we then realized we couldn’t fit our kitchen table in the kitchen! Everyone knows the kitchen is the heart of the home, and no one wants a heart that is too small.
We looked at some doozeys. We’ll never forget Cabbage House, though some in the family insist it was Radish House. Need I say more? There were numerous variations of Balcony House; great for playing Sound of Music, but just visiting produced nightmares in my acrophobic children. Then there was the house with the built-in idol cabinet. We ran for the holy water after that one. We really loved one house, but the lot was so steep even our realtor joked we would lose the children as they rolled away down the hill. And at the bottom was the drainage pit.
We wondered if we were being too picky. But it’s hard to spend such a huge amount of money on something you don’t really like. I was often tempted to downright fret. What are we going to doooo? Okay, perhaps I succumbed to said temptation on occasion, with a bit of whining thrown in for good measure. Patience. Patience. The Lord kept trying to teach me patience and I’m a sloooooooow learner. But...
Glory be to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory be to Him from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
This was the verse that stuck in my head and came to my mind spontaneously over and over again through it all. Infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Well, now, I would ponder to myself; why should He give us infinitely more than we can ask or imagine? We don’t deserve anything.
For Michael, it was all very simple. (He’s a man.) He saw it like the Wedding Feast at Cana. Mary simply pointed out they have need of more wine. And he saw her simply pointing out they have need of more house.
Well, He gave us this
Our realtor personally sent us the listing, which didn’t come to us automatically as it was way beyond our price range. I responded with an email to Michael, “Is this some sort of joke? Did we win the lottery or something?” But Dear Husband thought we should go look at it, because it had everything on our wish list. Facing north, good size level lot, lots of bedrooms, no balconies, good location, big kitchen, even a front porch! So we went.
I didn’t like it.
It was just too much. Too big. Too luxurious. Too expensive. I remember muttering to Michael, “Get me out of here.” It was overwhelming.
And so we started inquiring about another house the same builder was working on. But it was much smaller. Not a private lot. Michael said maybe we could swing the Big House. We never could have even considered it a year ago. But maybe... He wanted to look at it again. “Wwwhhhyyy?” I wwhhiiiined. “It’s got everything we’ve been looking for,” he wisely replied. So we went to look. “What do you think?” my Dear Husband asked me.
“I love it! What was I nuts before? It’s gorgeous!”
“I’ll buy it for you, Dear.”
(After living with me for over twenty years he’s got quite a handle on this Patience thing.)
And so here we all are. After a little back and forth our offer was accepted. A few alterations had to be made: a wall to close off the Music Room, a tiny bit of a stair balcony to close off. Within a few weeks we closed, and then we decided to move Sooner rather than Later. Why stay in the Mouse House? Michael called movers late on a Monday afternoon. They had a cancellation and could move us that Friday! We packed up as much as we could in three days so we could move and start living here. In a couple weeks we’ll finish up and move the cellar and garage contents.
I’ll never forget waking up that first morning in our new house. The sun was streaming in our bedroom windows, gleaming on the hardwood floors, Michael bringing me my fresh hot tea as always, Mozart wafting through the whole house via the Nutone. I asked Mary Rose how she liked sleeping in a real bed. “It feels like I’m in a hotel,” she sweetly replied. I know how you feel, dear.
We’re still pinching ourselves.
Glory be to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory be to Him from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus. Amen!